The Roots Rock It Out for Captain Morgan’s ‘Life, Love & Loot’ Campaign

Aye, Matey! Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots has partnered with Captain Morgan to record an anthem for the rum company's 'To Life, Love & Loot' campaign. The song features rapper Black Thought in rock star mode over a guitar-driven production.

The Roots don't normally do much corporate partnerships, but the band's frontman Questlove felt that Captain Morgan was a good fit for them. "There's no offer that we don't heavily scrutinize [before accepting]," he tells HipHopDX. "We are artists; we are skeptical by nature. Captain Morgan is a very high-class product. Our main concern was presenting something that was just as high class, if you will, and to do it in such a short amount of time. We didn't have any reservations other than that."

Although the Roots are known for their fantastic hip-hop sound, for Captain Morgan's 'To Life, Love & Loot' campaign, they were allowed to go in a different musical direction outside of their norm. "We kind of figured that what we're normally known for wouldn't necessarily be a regular fit for a campaign," explains Quest. "They kinda gave us a free will [ability] to kinda come and approach this in a very different manner, as in some sort of musical approach that we've never done before. [Black Thought] doesn't normally sing on Roots albums all that much, so we knew it would be a surprise for people, when [they] hear it. The challenge is really to make it concise in under a minute, and have some sort of adrenaline energy to it. It was a challenge but we rose to it."

Fans can visit Captain Morgan's Facebook page and download the 'Live, Love and Loot' track and watch behind-the-scenes footage of the recording process.

Meanwhile, the Roots have finished recording their 13 album titled 'Undun' for Def Jam. The collection is expected to hit shelves on Dec. 6.